For more than half of my life, I’ve been watching Chris Jericho in the wrestling ring. He’s one of the all-time greats and continues to perform at a high level on All Elite Wrestling and Ring of Honor every single week. He’s also someone who can act, and it used to be that it’d be a treat to see him pop up in something like Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, but now he’s staying pretty busy with roles in Terrifer 2 & 3, Killroy Was Here, and more. One thing Jericho didn’t want to do was play a wrestler or to do a wrestling-themed movie, but that all changed with Dark Match, a horror film that allows The Nueve a chance to show a more Satanic edge than ever before.
In Dark Match, a small-time wrestling promotion takes a big-money gig doing a show in a backwoods town. However, when they arrive they find it’s too good to be true, as the town is run by a mysterious cult leader who deems that every match will now be fights to the death.
Dark Match is directed by Lowell Dean, best known for his popular, cult favorite Wolfcop movies. With Jericho playing the film’s top heel, the top babyface role goes to Ayisha Issa as Nick/Miss Behave, who goes to the mat to save herself and the wrestling family she has grown close to.
As someone who has grown up watching wrestling all of my life, it was a real dream to talk with Chris Jericho about Dark Match. We talked about why he’s never wanted to do a wrestling movie and what made him change his mind. Jericho also talked about his love of movies and which of his personas would make good big-screen characters.
I’ll admit to being unaware of Ayisha Issa prior to Dark Match but now I’m a full-fledge fan. I’m a convert. She’s a total badass as Miss Behave, and we discussed her Brazilian jiu-jitsu background and whether she’d want to ever get in the ring as a pro wrestler.
Lowell Dean is a longtime wrestling fan and I think that shows in the movie, but he is a fan of the old school style of WWF in the 1980s which is why Dark Match is set around that time.
Check out my interviews with Jericho, Issa, and Dean now. They were a blast and I hope you enjoyed them. If you enjoy them, please subscribe to our YouTube channel for more, or listen to the interviews as part of the Cinema Royale podcast.
Dark Match hits Shudder on January 24th.
